C1X bags 5 awards at the National Digital Marketing Awards

C1X, the Advertising and Marketing Technology (AMT) leader, won five prestigious awards at the National Digital Marketing Awards at Taj Lands End, Mumbai, on February 13. BBC Knowledge were sponsors of the awards.

C1X was declared Programmatic Company of the Year India. Awards for the Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 and Product Person of the Year went to Mukundu Kumaran, Co-Founder CEO, C1X. Rammohan Sundaram, MD and SVP, APAC, Middle East and Africa, was declared Professional CEO (Digital) of the Year, while Sunil Punjabi , VP and Head of Business – South Asia, received the Digital Marketing Professional of the Year India Award.

Speaking about the wins, Mukundu said: “Winning the programmatic company of the year, along with the other categories, makes me feel very proud of our leadership team. We try to give our best when it comes to our platform, and strive to do all we can to empower our clients.”

“These awards are a testament to the enhancement of the technology we provide. Customer centricity is one of our core values, and our approach has always been to provide a service that is innovative, responsive, and fulfils the needs of our clients with the utmost convenience. Winning all these accolades only pushes us to strive harder to bring about a revolution through our one-of-a-kind technology product, to contribute to the evolving digital landscape in the best way we can,” said Sundaram.

Commenting on the recognition as the Digital Marketing Professional of the Year India, Punjabi stated, “It was an unexpected, but totally welcome surprise. It let us know that efforts in this industry pay off, even if it takes time. I feel honored to be among those who this forum has recognized. It increases my sense of responsibility. While I've never worked for awards or external recognition, this surely makes me want to keep doing more to add value to the ecosystem.”

C1X helps brands and their agencies find difficult-to-source audiences directly and transparently from leading premium publishers. Its data-driven digital advertising platform facilitates a friction-free marketplace for both publishers and advertisers, with easy to execute direct connections, delivering industry-leading visibility, and view ability. The C1X Platform offers an Audience Guarantee approach to provide buyers and sellers smooth participation in private marketplaces without having to rely on Deal IDs. The C1X Platform hosts access to inventory from more than 10,000 premium sites globally, including a growing list of premium publishers in the US.

The Digital Marketers' Awards have been known to recognize exceptional work done by the Marketing fraternity to take their brands into the digital era. Brand Stewards i.e. the CMOs or the Heads of Marketing, shepherd their teams and their company into creating brand assets. These awards recognize and reward leaders for the pioneering job of online asset creation amongst their peer-set for their brands.

The entries were judged by an exceptional jury who not only looked at the results, but also the leadership ability in creating an innovative marketing environment that has the ability to change the game of the branding and marketing industry.

English movie channel Movies NOW rings in the festive season with its mega property ‘100 Mania’. With the premise, ‘chill to win’, the 6th season of the property gives viewers an opportunity to win tempting prizes by watching Hollywood blockbusters every night at 9pm, starting 15th December 2018.

‘100 Mania’ will feature action blockbusters and franchises that Hollywood has to offer. With a curated line-up of movies like ‘Iron Man 3’, ‘Finding Dory’, ‘Warcraft’, ‘Doctor Strange’, ‘The Revenant’ and ‘Casino Royal’, viewers can watch and win prizes like smartphones, MacBooks, iPhones, laptops, television sets, play station 4, cars, bikes and lots more by answering simple questions.

Vivek Srivastava, EVP & Head Entertainment Cluster, Times Network said, “100 Mania is an iconic property and we are proud to bring it back in a bigger, bolder avatar in its sixth season. Over the last five seasons of 100 Mania, we have seen an unprecedented level of consumer engagement and the property has been true to the channels promise to provide the best of Hollywood blockbusters to our viewers. To make the property more interactive and collaborative this season, we are leading a massive integrated multimedia campaign synchronizing TV and social media. We hope Season 6 of 100 Mania carries ahead the legacy of the property by continuing to delight the minds of our viewers.”

Emerged as a reigning player in the business news genre, ZEE Business has shown remarkable growth in recent times. The average market share of the channel grew from an average of 23% in Q4 17-18 to over 35% in Q3 18-19. The channel has been extremely aggressive in relooking at its programming as well as marketing.

Speaking on the development, Anil Singhvi, Managing Editor, Zee Business says “the channel has relooked at the programming keeping consumer and credibility at the core of it. Our intent is to add value to our viewers by bringing the best business news analysis. We have also introduced segments like instant profit making tips looking at the market opening.”

On overall stock market programming, Singhvi says “it has been focused on small and new traders enabling them to trade or invest comfortably. We are shifting viewers habit from saving to investment and helping to fulfill their financial inclusion agenda.”

The channel has some of the successful new initiatives like Aaj Ke 2000 (a segment planned for intraday traders with limited money to book profit), Investment Gurukul (making the viewer comfortable with stock market operations), F&O Ki Pathshala (enabling traders for derivative trading in easy language), Desh ki Baat (a unique style political debate show in prime time). All these shows/segments have become very popular in a short time and have really fueled the growth.

Commenting on the new marketing campaign, Sujeet Mishra, Head Marketing, ZMCL says “Zee Business will keep strengthening its relationship with viewers and partners by constantly reinventing programming and communication. We have a great content lineup and the best of business news analysts. The splendid growth of viewership is a reflection of our growing trust and the campaign stunningly captures the spirit”.

The channel also did some special shows recently such as Zee Business Travel Awards in partnership with Mauritius Tourism, and multicity Dare to Dream Awards in partnership with SAP which were hugely successful. Now based in the financial capital of India, Zee Business is all out to bring the best of content, analysis, and experts for viewers.

With a pledge of taking cricket to new levels of networking and fun, the 5th season of the Digital Premier League is being organized by Zirca along with associate sponsor Latestly. The league which kicked off at the Jankidevi turf on weekends, not only aims to bring together the digital fraternity through cricket but is also a major initiative towards promoting women empowerment as all the 20 participating teams will be headed by girl captains selected on the basis of their leadership qualities.

The tournament also comes with a big surprise as for the first time in the history of DPL, the entire league will be covered via live streaming giving Mumbaikers the leisure of enjoying the matches while relaxing at home. The teams will battle against each other to grab the Digital World Cup promising some power packed action on the ground.

With each successful season, the Digital Premier League is growing in leaps and bounds with the unprecedented participation of the fraternity of publishers, media agencies and advertisers. The league also establishes a much-needed harmony amongst digital media companies.

Looking forward to fun-filled matches this season, the league gives a chance to its participants to meet and know each other members better and gives an open platform to discuss opportunities at a later stage. The plan with growing DPL is to make such league a national event where industry members across the country can come together at a single platform every year. Karan Gupta, Managing Director, Zirca distributed the awards & prize to the winners, empowering women in sports.

This season of DPL will see the participation of some of the top media agencies such as Daily Hunt, Republic World, Dainik Bhaskar, Sony Liv, CNN and Moneycontrol. Major brands such as Network 18, Amazon, Car Dekho, we transfer will also be a part of this esteemed tournament.

Continuing the ethos of News18 India of bringing path-breaking initiatives, the channel is back with the fourth edition of News18 India Chaupal’. Amidst the astounding mandate of the recent assembly elections, the flagship event will bring together leading politicians and commentators to set the outlook for the General Elections next year.

Scheduled for 19th December in New Delhi, Chaupal will be graced by leading personalities such as Yogi Adityanath, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Manoj Sinha, Kamal Nath, Akhilesh Yadav, Digvijay Singh to name a few.

Exemplifying channel’s disruptive spirit, News18 India Chaupal will focus on subjects that cover the mood of the nation. From politics to policy making and from state issues to Bollywood opinion, ‘Desh ka Sabse Bada Manch’ will aim to add a unique dimension to both political and popular discourse. Speaking about the 2019 elections and current political scenarios, the inaugural session will witness BJP’s star campaigner and Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath.

Commenting on the initiative, Prabal Pratap Singh, Managing Editor, News18 India said, “Over the past two years, News18 India has seen phenomenal growth which, we firmly believe, has been possible because of our fearless approach in presenting the news and an undying commitment to deliver the truth. Furthering our philosophy of hard-hitting journalism, the 4th edition of ‘News18 India Chaupal’ is going to be extremely pertinent as it sets the stage for the political dialogue while India gears up for the upcoming General Elections in 2019. The event will aim to catalyze new approaches, debates, and deliberations across a range of topics in the presence of the finest leaders of our country.” From the revival of Congress to ultimate contest in 2019 and the rise of young political brigade along with the third front, the thought leaders across numerous fields will share their insights and perspectives. The sessions will be moderated by top anchors and journalists of News18 India.

Airtel’s music streaming app Wynk Music has been rated as ‘Most Entertaining App of 2018’ on Google Play Store.

Launched in 2014 as an OTT app, Wynk Music has emerged as India’s leading music app with one of the highest number of active users. Thanks to the explosive growth of smartphones and high speed data networks, Wynk Music has seen over 100 million installs.

“Our biggest obsession is user experience and we continue to invest and innovate to keep making it better. The love we get from our users is the biggest endorsement for our efforts and we are truly delighted to end 2018 on this high note,” says Sameer Batra, CEO – Content and Apps, Bharti Airtel.

The latest version of Wynk Music, which was released in May 2018, offers users a more personalized and contextual experience. The new Wynk comes with a radio tab, a dedicated ‘My Music’ tab and a social element with introduction of playlists, where users can follow lists created by others, basis their choice. The app also comes with an artist section, which showcases the best of songs from the music artist, making it easy for users to navigate.

Sameer Batra added, “We now have a sharp focus on adding regional content to our library given that most new users coming online are from smaller towns and villages. We are already seeing a massive surge in volumes of regional songs being streamed on Wynk and believe that this trend is set to play out in a big way in the coming years. Airtel’s deep understanding of these markets and customers enables us to deliver a great experience to these users.”

Wynk Music has partnered with all leading record labels, including Hungama, Universal Music, Sony Music, Saregama, Zee Music, Aditya Music, Unisys, Venus, PDL, to offer unmatched variety and top entertainment experience to users.

Ringing in the Christmas cheer, ZEE5 has announced a special 20% off holiday subscription offer for Australia and Singapore. As a part of the ZEE5 ‘Christmas Bonanza’, audiences across these two countries will have access to 1,00,000 hours of the largest bouquet of on-demand content across 12 languages for 7.99 AUD/month and 7.98 SGD/month as against 9.99 AUD/month and 9.98 SGD/month.

“With our recent global launch across 190+ markets, this is ZEE5’s first Christmas in Australia and Singapore. And what better way to spread the joy this festival season than to bring a special ‘Christmas Bonanza’ offer with a whopping 20% discount to Indians and South Asians in these markets to enable them to access over 1,00,000 hours of the best of Indian TV Shows and Movies, Live TV, Music and much more.” said Archana Anand, Chief Business Officer, ZEE5 Global.

ZEE5 offers the largest width and depth of multi-genre and multi-lingual content across 12 content languages like English, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Oriya, Bhojpuri, Gujarati and Punjabi as well as 11 display languages. The platform comes packed with content ranging from Indian Movies and TV Shows to Music, Health and Lifestyle videos as well as an extensive Live TV offering with 60+ popular Live TV channels.

With this special subscription offer, audiences in Australia and Singapore will have access to ZEE5 Originals such as Tigers and Karenjit Kaur, scintillating Bollywood hits like Padman and the global digital premiere of Namaste England as well as an extensive Tamil content library including top shows like Sembaruthi, Poove Poochoodava and Yaaradi Nee Mohini, ZEE5 Originals including Kallachirippu and America Mapillai and recent blockbusters like Mersal and Lingaa.

The ZEE5 App can be downloaded from Google Play Store as well as the iOS App Store and can be accessed by visiting www.ZEE5.com. The app is also available on Samsung Smart TV, Apple TV and Android TV as well as Amazon Fire TV.

Asianetnews.com, the digital arm of Asianet News Networks, will be launching a new digital property – Amma Ariyaan, a one stop destination for readers where they can get important and interesting information about pregnancy, post pregnancy and parenting.

Amma Ariyaan will be initially launched in Malayalam with articles and video to help women go through the pregnancy stage. Subject matter experts and influencers have been brought on board to provide concrete and correct information for the target audience. While most of the content will be created by the editorial team of Asianetnews.com, readers are also invited to share their stories and experience on their pregnancy journey. With this, Asianet News Network is expecting to increase engagement level of the website with more ‘relatable content’.

Asianetnews.com has partnered with Popees and Goodknight for this project, although many more enquiries are pouring in from brands across the country.

Abhinav Khare, CEO, Asianetnews.com said, “At AsianetNews.com, in our unceasing effort to improve user engagement, we constantly innovate and take initiatives which has made us one of top News Platforms in India. ‘Engaging’ & ‘Relevant’ content has always been our prime focus. Amma Ariyaan is one such initiative which we believe will not only help women during their pregnancy but also will spread awareness amongst young men and women about family planning and parenting. We have roped in top experts for this digital property. Our well researched content will definitely make Amma Ariyaan and AsianetNews.com a common name in many households.”

Speaking on the Shridhar Mishra, VP - Digital Sales, Asianetnews.com said, “We are confident that the content we are preparing for Amma Ariyaan will appeal to our readers, especially the ‘relatable stories’ we are working on. A lot of brands have shown interest in working with us on this project because with us they will reach out to their target market at the grass root level. Another advantage is the credibility of Asianet News brand name. We are very excited about the launch of this digital property and we hope to be able to soon launch this on our other websites as well.”

Amit Gupta, Managing Director, Asianet News Media & Entertainment Pvt Ltd said, “We at Asianetnews.com, have constantly constantly endeavouring and working to stay ahead with reader engagement content. And with the launch of Amma Ariyaan, readers can look forward to interviews with doctors and celebrities in addition to informational articles and videos.”

The House of McNROE with its brands Wild Stone and Secret Temptation, has announced their plans to strengthen their product portfolio and launched a shower gel, hair gel, face wash and shaving foam under it ’s Wild Stone Edge Series.

McNROE has enjoyed being one of the market leaders in the fragrance category with approx 10% market share and now with the launch of four new product categories for the very first time, the brand is planning to reach out to its brand loyalists with more of Wild Stone products to choose from. Until now, the brand has been available in the deodorant, perfume, after shave lotion, talc, shaving cream and soap segment under the various Wild Stone fragrance series.

Speaking about the new range, Narendra Kumar Daga, MD, McNROE, “WIild Stone has emerged as one of the preferred home grown fragrance brands and we realized that our loyal consumers were wanting more from the brand, they wanted to extend their brand experience with newer categories and thus we decided to launch new products to meet this demand. We are confident that we will make our presence felt and we will be reaching out to newer and emerging set of consumers across the country with our new range.” With this launch, the Wild Stone Edge Collection now features a set of seven products such as Perfume, Deodorant, Shower Gel, Face wash, Hair gel, Shaving Foam and After Shave Lotion.

The company has recently launched a new campaign to introduce the latest Wild Stone Edge collection, titled, #JustFriendsNoMore, which revolves around a young boy-girl who start off as childhood friends and stay #JustFriends until the girl’s starts getting attracted to the boy, with a change in his personality and looks – as he starts using Wild Stone Edge, and the campaign continue to holds the original tagline ‘log to notice karenge’.

The new Edge Collection has an intense aromatic woody fragrance, which gets the user to stand out from the crowd and showcases him as a dynamic and a powerful personality.

McNROE also launched Compact Pocket Body Perfumes in the 18 ml size category in three variants each for Wild Stone and Secret Temptation. The 18 ml segment is perfect for on the go usage. The Wild Stone 18 ml fragrance variants are Blast, Charge and Fresh; and Secret Temptation 18 ml fragrance variants are Lush, Bloom and Alive.

Radio network, Radio City, has launched a campaign titled #MeraGhaata, to create awareness about traffic rules and address the issues of underage driving, drunk driving and jay walking in the national capital region, Delhi.

The voice of Delhi Radio City’s RJ Ginnie took up the role of being the ‘Driver of Change’ for this campaign and on her popular morning show, ‘Suno Na Dilli’, has encouraged listeners to consciously stop flouting traffic rules. The campaign, in association with Delhi Traffic Authority/Police, is a right blend of satire, humour and facts. #MeraGhaata, a three-week-long campaign which started on December 3, will manifest itself on-air, on-ground and on digital platforms. Led by RJ Ginnie, along with other Radio City representatives, this campaign will bring about a sense of self-realisation amongst the Delhiites and influence a positive change in the society.

To amplify this message, Radio City launched a hard-hitting video on the menace of underage driving, drunk driving and jay walking, by recreating the popular song ‘Tera Ghaata’, sung by singer Gajendra Verma. The video encapsulates the consequences of breaking traffic rules and encourages Delhiites to take the onus of preventing road mishaps. This message driven campaign will be supported with a 360 degree marketing approach, including on-ground, digital, print and outdoor.

Commenting on the campaign, Kartik Kalla, Chief Creative Officer, Radio City said, “Radio has the power and reach to influence mind sets at large and Radio City, has always strived to resolve the issues the citizens struggle with. Since we are all equally guilty of breaking traffic rules, the idea behind the campaign is to encourage Delhiites to take onus of our actions. The song chosen for the campaign is immensely popular amongst the listeners and thus, we chose to take a digital route that resonates best with them. We are optimistic that we will be able to bring about a significant difference in building better civic sense and social responsibility among the people of Delhi.”

Expressing her thoughts on leading this drive, RJ Ginnie said, “I believe Radio and its role is constantly evolving in today’s day and age. It is no longer limited to just music and fun – it is also a great influencer in highlighting daily problems and social issues in such a manner that it stays with the listener. Traffic is one of the biggest problems of Delhi and the fact is that each one of us is equally responsible for the mess. Whether it is giving keys to underage children, not following road rules, not using foot-over bridges and subways, we’re all guilty of it. It is imperative that all of us unanimously make an effort to bring about a change and make Delhi better.”

The singer Verma said, “It is an honour that my song is lending itself to such an important cause and I hope people start becoming more responsible citizens when it comes to following road traffic rules. I support RJ Ginnie and Radio City for this initiative. Drunk driving, jay walking and under age driving - the three main aspects Radio City’s #MeraGhaata campaign seeks to redress - have severe consequences that most of us do not realise.”

According to Alok Kumar, Joint CP Traffic, Traffic Commissioner of Delhi, “As many as 35,598 challans have been issued for drunken driving until 30th November 2018 and more than 20,000 vehicles have been impounded. With this influential campaign, Radio City continues to amplify and highlight important issues plaguing our societies, made possible due to the channel’s understanding of the pulse of the city. These initiatives further amplify its philosophy of ‘Rag Rag Mein Daude City’.”

Pablo Escobar’s belief that “Life is full of surprises, some good, some not so good,” forms the basis for a thrilling biography of the infamous drug lord. Watch the true story of Colombia's powerful drug kingpin in “The Rise & Fall of Pablo Escobar’ this December on History TV18 HD at 10PM.

Pablo Escobar was the most notorious figure of one the darker periods of Colombia’s recent political history. Though he started out as a petty thief and small time dealer in the city of Envigado, just outside Medellin, he later was to become one of the world’s richest men due to his involvement in the cocaine trade. His dual weapons, of large-scale violence and bribery, allowed Escobar to co-opt much of the Colombian state, and bring it to the brink of collapse.

The Rise and Fall of Pablo Escobar gives viewers an inside look at the hunt for Pablo Escobar as told by the US DEA agents who hunted him and those that were there reporting. In this two hour special, viewers will hear personal accounts from several DEA agents, as well as journalists who were part of the search and ultimate capture of Escobar. Along with never before seen footage and photographs of Escobar’s life and capture, viewers will be taken along on the journey that was Pablo Escobar’s life and his demise.